We're in Eliza Page, I've come up with a few new bracelet designs, our new website is about to launch this week and Kelly W. interior designer extraordinaire bought one of our bracelets and two rings at the Pickwick LA show back in August, so I'm feeling the bump from "creative validation". Busy working, busy working, busy working.
We're supposed to go to F&D sometime this month, god I love that place.
Jim and I finally came close to perfecting our macaron recipe which is killer. Made some preserved lemons, which didn't turn out so great, apparently Sprouts farmers market carries lemons that have been chemical/wax coated, it made all of the preserves really bitter and acrid.
YES, I washed them first. That stuff gets down into the lemons pores. Will have to try it with Meyer lemons next time they are in season. Lame.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Manana manana it's always tamara
Playing the waiting game for 24 hours, tomorrow is my meet up with ES, so here's hoping something awesome comes of that.
The Pickwick show was apparently pretty good despite the Emmy's happening on the same day... Boo. I hate the Emmys.
THOUGH..! On a super positive note one of my A Number One FAV FAV FAV interior design superstars bought one of our bracelets and two of our rings! So rock on with your bad self.. right?
Was interviewed by Splendid Mag and am waiting to hear from another mag on Fall Fashion Affordable Luxury must haves.. Hope we make it.
The Pickwick show was apparently pretty good despite the Emmy's happening on the same day... Boo. I hate the Emmys.
THOUGH..! On a super positive note one of my A Number One FAV FAV FAV interior design superstars bought one of our bracelets and two of our rings! So rock on with your bad self.. right?
Was interviewed by Splendid Mag and am waiting to hear from another mag on Fall Fashion Affordable Luxury must haves.. Hope we make it.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Mod Cons
"Hey, if you let me wear one of your rings to a party next week, so and so will be there maybe she'll see it and I can get you into his/her shop..."
What a poorly thought out idea! So, you want me to hand you a 200. ring to wear to a party in the hope that someone will stop what they're doing and ask about your jewelry and where you got it. Or maybe even buy it right off you on the spot! (Are you high?) And you're pretty sure you can work a business deal for me, at a party, with someone you only know in passing, and all this for the low low price of a free gift of jewelry?
No thanks.
----------------
Sadly I have had this conversation 4 times in the last 2 weeks. It's nice to know people are interested in my work, but I prefer to work my own business deals thanks.
Heard a good one the other day: A new store in another state wants to order less than the minimum order. "Because they don't know me and I might flake out or something.. " Really? And buying 4 pcs instead of 6 is going to prevent flakage how? Personally that's right up there with "this is too big, can you discount it?" because a lower price will make the item instantly smaller or the space available suddenly larger.. Weirdness.
Our wholesale rates have gone up and keeping up with orders is full time. Loving it!
Going to Dallas Design center in a few weeks to look over space for the October show. Neat!
What a poorly thought out idea! So, you want me to hand you a 200. ring to wear to a party in the hope that someone will stop what they're doing and ask about your jewelry and where you got it. Or maybe even buy it right off you on the spot! (Are you high?) And you're pretty sure you can work a business deal for me, at a party, with someone you only know in passing, and all this for the low low price of a free gift of jewelry?
No thanks.
----------------
Sadly I have had this conversation 4 times in the last 2 weeks. It's nice to know people are interested in my work, but I prefer to work my own business deals thanks.
Heard a good one the other day: A new store in another state wants to order less than the minimum order. "Because they don't know me and I might flake out or something.. " Really? And buying 4 pcs instead of 6 is going to prevent flakage how? Personally that's right up there with "this is too big, can you discount it?" because a lower price will make the item instantly smaller or the space available suddenly larger.. Weirdness.
Our wholesale rates have gone up and keeping up with orders is full time. Loving it!
Going to Dallas Design center in a few weeks to look over space for the October show. Neat!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Housewife Fail
Today I wanted to try my hand at haus frau type stuff so I started to make cupcakes..
Decided to get creative, wanted to try cardamom cupcakes with fruit and nuts with a vanilla curry icing.
We like Indian food so why not completely twist it into a cupcake, right?
Bought a box of organic cake mix at Whole Foods, added all the dried fruit, orange peels, cardamom and nuts to the mix, tasted the batter... it tasted a LOT like icing.. looked at the box realized it was a GD box of flippin powdered sugar. For some reason the recipe on the box calling for milk and a softened stick of butter just didn't click that it was a recipe for butter cream frosting. The image on the box is of Yellow Cake and for whatever reason I've never seen a box of powdered sugar sold as "Icing Mix" so I just assumed it was a yellow cake mix.
Basically I had to melt the icing to get all the fruit and nuts strained out. And I just realized that we're out of eggs.
This housewife thing is just not me. LOL
I'll keep trying though...
Decided to get creative, wanted to try cardamom cupcakes with fruit and nuts with a vanilla curry icing.
We like Indian food so why not completely twist it into a cupcake, right?
Bought a box of organic cake mix at Whole Foods, added all the dried fruit, orange peels, cardamom and nuts to the mix, tasted the batter... it tasted a LOT like icing.. looked at the box realized it was a GD box of flippin powdered sugar. For some reason the recipe on the box calling for milk and a softened stick of butter just didn't click that it was a recipe for butter cream frosting. The image on the box is of Yellow Cake and for whatever reason I've never seen a box of powdered sugar sold as "Icing Mix" so I just assumed it was a yellow cake mix.
Basically I had to melt the icing to get all the fruit and nuts strained out. And I just realized that we're out of eggs.
This housewife thing is just not me. LOL
I'll keep trying though...
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Knuckle Duster Rings
How nice is it to be included in a blog like Daily Candy??!
http://www.dailycandy.com/dallas/article/84238/Dallas-Events-and-Diversions
Our rings got top billing, I love it! We've been down in Tallahassee at Lulu's farm for the weekend. A lot of family came in from all over the country and the highlight was Dan, Luz, Sondra and Luis making two massive pans of Paella for all the people coming out to the farm for the Tomato Festival. J and I had an excellent time cruising back and forth across the south in the Scion, though we did develop a crack in the windshield around Baton Rouge.
Apparently Scion's are developing cracks due to poorly fitted windshields. We had just received the notice about it right before we left and I set it aside thinking, glad we don't have one.. ha
We left Austin early and hit Gulfport MS at around 9pm, just in time to have an excellent dinner at the Half Shell Oyster House on the beach. I had BBQ Shrimp and grits for the first time and am a total convert. We managed to snag the last room at Holiday Inn as everything in Gulfport has been taken over by white collar types trying to stop the oil spill. The Holiday Inn in Gulfport is brand new and looks like the Standard Hotel on a budget, really well designed for a hotel. They put some thought into it.
The next day we decided that Tallahassee was fairly close at 6 hours and decided to 'meander' our way down the coast. First we took a walk on the beach, which looks a bit like Waikiki, but not really. I managed to step on the one and only tar ball in all of Gulfport. It's yellowish green and has the consistency of gluestick. Fortunately we keep hand lotion in the car and like dissolves like.
For breakfast we stopped at some crab shack and had a mess of fried grouper and crab claws. We ambled down 90 and in Alabama made the requisite stop for boiled peanuts (Spicy AND Regular) then headed for the Mobile tunnel, which was stacked and packed so we took the loop north to the Mobile bridge, that was fun. Mainly it was a good trip.
The Farm is outside of Tallahassee and almost everyone was camping at the farm. Saturday night we had a family dinner for 25, the highlight was Harriet's keylime pies and fresh arugula from the farm. Fun fact: Arugula is extremely peppery when it's fresh, this stuff was FRESH! Zippy doesn't quite cut it, it almost stings.
Lulu imports the craziest selection of balsamic vinegars from Italy, our favorite was the espresso balsamic syrup. If you can get a hold of this stuff, do it!
One of the vendor's for the festival was Sweet Grass Dairy from Georgia, they have a brie that will just knock you out!
There was a serious rain storm on Saturday night which took the heat out and everyone moved to the back porch for a cool breeze. Herman had made some sort of blackberry juice slurry that when mixed with apple juice and vodka makes a killer cocktail.
I bought a ricer today so I can make some of that to keep in our fridge. Luz brought Jim a double pint of homemade peach preserves so he's a happy camper. It was a super food weekend.
On our way home we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Lafayette and the girl at the front desk sent us to "Crayfish Town USA" for dinner. Not kidding, it's in a giant red barn on the side of the road.
It's one of those things where you ask yourself if this is the right thing or if crappy Landry's is the safer bet. It's not.
Crayfish Town USA for one, was packed, with locals. And it's not cheap junk food. They had the most divine sweet potato fries I've ever had. Not sure what they did to them but the outside was SUPER crisp, the inside was wonderfully soft and they didn't have the slightest hint of oil or grease residue. The crayfish were huge and clean, the entrees were wonderful, everything was just really well done. Jim was especially into their rolls which were sweet like King Hawaiian rolls but went somewhere over the rainbow when swabbed with a touch of etouffee.
It was one of those places where you wouldn't mind being stuck for a few days. We now have Lafayette marked as our overnight place for southern road trips.
On our trip we picked up some goodies for Etsy. Today I bought a KILLER champagne bucket and stand by a well known Tulsa jeweler. It needs a couple solder repairs but it's a beautiful piece. Also a great little Blanc de chine chinoiserie centerpiece stand made in Italy circa 1960s.
When I was catching up on my emails this morning, I found we had an order waiting for one of our favorite Mid Century TV shows on AMC! I love prop orders. I don't know why but I get a big kick out of seeing stuff on a big or little screen and thinking, "I sold them that!"
Things continue to roll along. Our peach trees are putting out fruit like little organic factories, and big trash is next week so we'll be able to put out a bunch of stuff that has been waiting to go to the dump. Bonus!
http://www.dailycandy.com/dallas/article/84238/Dallas-Events-and-Diversions
Our rings got top billing, I love it! We've been down in Tallahassee at Lulu's farm for the weekend. A lot of family came in from all over the country and the highlight was Dan, Luz, Sondra and Luis making two massive pans of Paella for all the people coming out to the farm for the Tomato Festival. J and I had an excellent time cruising back and forth across the south in the Scion, though we did develop a crack in the windshield around Baton Rouge.
Apparently Scion's are developing cracks due to poorly fitted windshields. We had just received the notice about it right before we left and I set it aside thinking, glad we don't have one.. ha
We left Austin early and hit Gulfport MS at around 9pm, just in time to have an excellent dinner at the Half Shell Oyster House on the beach. I had BBQ Shrimp and grits for the first time and am a total convert. We managed to snag the last room at Holiday Inn as everything in Gulfport has been taken over by white collar types trying to stop the oil spill. The Holiday Inn in Gulfport is brand new and looks like the Standard Hotel on a budget, really well designed for a hotel. They put some thought into it.
The next day we decided that Tallahassee was fairly close at 6 hours and decided to 'meander' our way down the coast. First we took a walk on the beach, which looks a bit like Waikiki, but not really. I managed to step on the one and only tar ball in all of Gulfport. It's yellowish green and has the consistency of gluestick. Fortunately we keep hand lotion in the car and like dissolves like.
For breakfast we stopped at some crab shack and had a mess of fried grouper and crab claws. We ambled down 90 and in Alabama made the requisite stop for boiled peanuts (Spicy AND Regular) then headed for the Mobile tunnel, which was stacked and packed so we took the loop north to the Mobile bridge, that was fun. Mainly it was a good trip.
The Farm is outside of Tallahassee and almost everyone was camping at the farm. Saturday night we had a family dinner for 25, the highlight was Harriet's keylime pies and fresh arugula from the farm. Fun fact: Arugula is extremely peppery when it's fresh, this stuff was FRESH! Zippy doesn't quite cut it, it almost stings.
Lulu imports the craziest selection of balsamic vinegars from Italy, our favorite was the espresso balsamic syrup. If you can get a hold of this stuff, do it!
One of the vendor's for the festival was Sweet Grass Dairy from Georgia, they have a brie that will just knock you out!
There was a serious rain storm on Saturday night which took the heat out and everyone moved to the back porch for a cool breeze. Herman had made some sort of blackberry juice slurry that when mixed with apple juice and vodka makes a killer cocktail.
I bought a ricer today so I can make some of that to keep in our fridge. Luz brought Jim a double pint of homemade peach preserves so he's a happy camper. It was a super food weekend.
On our way home we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Lafayette and the girl at the front desk sent us to "Crayfish Town USA" for dinner. Not kidding, it's in a giant red barn on the side of the road.
It's one of those things where you ask yourself if this is the right thing or if crappy Landry's is the safer bet. It's not.
Crayfish Town USA for one, was packed, with locals. And it's not cheap junk food. They had the most divine sweet potato fries I've ever had. Not sure what they did to them but the outside was SUPER crisp, the inside was wonderfully soft and they didn't have the slightest hint of oil or grease residue. The crayfish were huge and clean, the entrees were wonderful, everything was just really well done. Jim was especially into their rolls which were sweet like King Hawaiian rolls but went somewhere over the rainbow when swabbed with a touch of etouffee.
It was one of those places where you wouldn't mind being stuck for a few days. We now have Lafayette marked as our overnight place for southern road trips.
On our trip we picked up some goodies for Etsy. Today I bought a KILLER champagne bucket and stand by a well known Tulsa jeweler. It needs a couple solder repairs but it's a beautiful piece. Also a great little Blanc de chine chinoiserie centerpiece stand made in Italy circa 1960s.
When I was catching up on my emails this morning, I found we had an order waiting for one of our favorite Mid Century TV shows on AMC! I love prop orders. I don't know why but I get a big kick out of seeing stuff on a big or little screen and thinking, "I sold them that!"
Things continue to roll along. Our peach trees are putting out fruit like little organic factories, and big trash is next week so we'll be able to put out a bunch of stuff that has been waiting to go to the dump. Bonus!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Good things happen
Good things have been happening in spades lately and we feel so blessed!
Our friends at Foreign and Domestic Food and Drink have been rocking out, the food is INCREDIBLE and it's been such a great addition of a quality business to a quirky little neighborhood with limited sit-down restaurant choices. Love that they are an addition rather than competition to existing restaurants.
My favorite building in that neighborhood is for sale (too much for me to buy) and I really hope another wonderful and unique local business moves in.
Although the lawn chair production did not happen as planned, a little bird has told me that a buyer from Neimans might be calling me sometime soon. OMG. Holy. Cow. Things are moving FAST.
Fortunately I know two someone's who have worked with NM currently and in the past and so I have two different people I can go to with "WWYD" questions =o)
We've been waiting on press for a certain something, the chairs really taught me that it might not matter who did what first, but who gets the most press first.
With that lesson in mind, we've been reluctant to put custom items "out there" before the press is 'in' on it. Weird I know, but it's disappointing to spend the time and make the financial investment to create something and then see another company get "the big hooray".
Oh well, Moving on.
Yesterday we had a studio day, soldering, carving and drilling. It was good fun and we kicked around some ideas. It's great to have a friend who does something somewhat similar to what you do but who has no interest in doing exactly what you do. Too often people see someone doing something unique and want to do the exact same thing. This is never good for friendships.
I've turned down the Tallahassee shop, we are not doing consignments. Period. We ARE doing the Dallas Design Mart in the Fall though! Whoo!
Get ready for the Paramount Summer Film Fest!
Our friends at Foreign and Domestic Food and Drink have been rocking out, the food is INCREDIBLE and it's been such a great addition of a quality business to a quirky little neighborhood with limited sit-down restaurant choices. Love that they are an addition rather than competition to existing restaurants.
My favorite building in that neighborhood is for sale (too much for me to buy) and I really hope another wonderful and unique local business moves in.
Although the lawn chair production did not happen as planned, a little bird has told me that a buyer from Neimans might be calling me sometime soon. OMG. Holy. Cow. Things are moving FAST.
Fortunately I know two someone's who have worked with NM currently and in the past and so I have two different people I can go to with "WWYD" questions =o)
We've been waiting on press for a certain something, the chairs really taught me that it might not matter who did what first, but who gets the most press first.
With that lesson in mind, we've been reluctant to put custom items "out there" before the press is 'in' on it. Weird I know, but it's disappointing to spend the time and make the financial investment to create something and then see another company get "the big hooray".
Oh well, Moving on.
Yesterday we had a studio day, soldering, carving and drilling. It was good fun and we kicked around some ideas. It's great to have a friend who does something somewhat similar to what you do but who has no interest in doing exactly what you do. Too often people see someone doing something unique and want to do the exact same thing. This is never good for friendships.
I've turned down the Tallahassee shop, we are not doing consignments. Period. We ARE doing the Dallas Design Mart in the Fall though! Whoo!
Get ready for the Paramount Summer Film Fest!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
More ring news
Chase and Scout rings can now be purchased in Dallas exclusively at Urban Flower Grange Hall.
How's that for fast - Everything has been happening fast, fast, fast this year. We're really excited by this. I have an appointment at another gallery in Tallahassee in a few weeks. I need to decide where in Houston I'd like to approach.... We've been refining the list of places I'd like to talk to in Austin about the rings as well. Our new website goes live in a few weeks!
The chairs are going to just one boutique hotel, unfortunately the same week we officially launched ours, a factory in Brooklyn began producing a simplified version. Ours are more for commercial use as the bases are removable (for stacking and storage of multiples) and ours are also adjustable and can be positioned into an upright sitting or recline position.
Since ours are a two piece sectional and have more design/production in the creation to make the additions/changes possible, the cost is also significantly higher than the original design.
A serious drag, but sometimes two groups come up with similar ideas at the same time.
The oil spill has not helped with smaller Florida hotel budgets for outdoor furnishings anyways, some of the mom and pops are just praying for a Hurricane and the resulting insurance money to stay afloat this year..
Fortunately we did sell the originals and we're not sitting under a ton of chairs =o)
This year I'm really into staying focused on the bright side. A really talented landscape designer is re-vamping our backyard for a more Texas drought friendly look. All of the cactus will finally have a place to go. The Ferox should be especially happy to get out of a pot and into free soil..
I managed to save two giant blue agaves from the shop and they have both rooted into the yard this spring, now we just need to replant the sago palm and we should be good.
Hopefully next time we're in NM we can pick up some more statuesque red rocks for the back yard.
Looks like F&D/F&D is a hit and we are so pleased to have them, they are such a nice couple and their daughter is just a doll. Good vibes all around!
How's that for fast - Everything has been happening fast, fast, fast this year. We're really excited by this. I have an appointment at another gallery in Tallahassee in a few weeks. I need to decide where in Houston I'd like to approach.... We've been refining the list of places I'd like to talk to in Austin about the rings as well. Our new website goes live in a few weeks!
The chairs are going to just one boutique hotel, unfortunately the same week we officially launched ours, a factory in Brooklyn began producing a simplified version. Ours are more for commercial use as the bases are removable (for stacking and storage of multiples) and ours are also adjustable and can be positioned into an upright sitting or recline position.
Since ours are a two piece sectional and have more design/production in the creation to make the additions/changes possible, the cost is also significantly higher than the original design.
A serious drag, but sometimes two groups come up with similar ideas at the same time.
The oil spill has not helped with smaller Florida hotel budgets for outdoor furnishings anyways, some of the mom and pops are just praying for a Hurricane and the resulting insurance money to stay afloat this year..
Fortunately we did sell the originals and we're not sitting under a ton of chairs =o)
This year I'm really into staying focused on the bright side. A really talented landscape designer is re-vamping our backyard for a more Texas drought friendly look. All of the cactus will finally have a place to go. The Ferox should be especially happy to get out of a pot and into free soil..
I managed to save two giant blue agaves from the shop and they have both rooted into the yard this spring, now we just need to replant the sago palm and we should be good.
Hopefully next time we're in NM we can pick up some more statuesque red rocks for the back yard.
Looks like F&D/F&D is a hit and we are so pleased to have them, they are such a nice couple and their daughter is just a doll. Good vibes all around!
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